PETER White, who has died aged 85, hit the headlines in 1986 when he single-handedly disarmed nine Yemeni rebels who had tried to enter the British Embassy in Aden.

Mr White, from Chinnor, was head of security at the Middle East embassy when the soldiers – armed with Kalashnikovs – tried to get into the building.

He was unarmed at the time of the incident when he told the rebels, who were seeking asylum, they could not bring arms into the Queen’s property.

Hailed as a British hero on his return, Mr White was awarded the British Empire Medal for his heroism and for rescuing the British ambassador and his wife.

Mr White, who lived in Marlow, Booker and Chesham before his work with the Foreign Office took him overseas, was awarded the honour by the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

But he was too modest to accept an invitation to attend Buckingham Palace that came with the award and declined to go.

The former Royal Marine and Thames Valley Police officer, who was an active member of the Oxfordshire bowls circuit, lived his last few years in Chinnor, having set up his own driving school.

Mr White, who leaves three children – Janice, Peter and Kerry – six grandchildren, seven great grandchildren and three great great grandchildren, also served in embassies in Cairo, Islamabad, Moscow and Washington.

Before becoming head of security, he was a Queen’s Messenger, conveying important messages between embassies.

Mr White took up the position with the Foreign Office after he retired from the police force in 1978.

He joined the Buckinghamshire Constabulary police force in 1951 after serving as a Royal Marine in the Second World War.

He signed up aged just 16 and was posted to Burma and Japan.

His son Kerry, 51, an businessman from Long Crendon, said: “He was a true gentleman, most of all he was my dad. He will always be an inspiration to me.”

Bill Still, 80, who worked with Mr White for 25 years as a police motorcyclist, travelled from Lincolnshire for Mr White’s funeral at Amersham Crematorium.

He said: “He’s the only one I would come all this way for. He was a fantastic man. I miss him badly, he was like a brother.”

His granddaughter Julie-Anne Bridgman said: “I’m very proud to be his granddaughter and I was proud the day when I picked up a newspaper and saw him on the front page as a hero.”

Mr White met his wife-to-be, Olive, in Marlow Bottom when he was driving private hire cars for his father’s business, which was based in Marlow. They married in 1946.

He became a widower in 1976 when Olive died. He never re-married.

He carried on teaching people to drive until he was 79.

Mr White died at a hospice in Stoke Mandeville, Aylesbury.